Houston REIT Readies $400 MM Stock Offering

Weingarten Realty Investors has priced a public offering of 28 million shares of its common stock at $14.25 per share. The shopping center and industrial real estate investment trust has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 4.2 million shares. Merrill Lynch & Co. and JPMorgan are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. RBC Capital Markets and Wachovia Securities are acting as joint lead managers. Robert W. Baird & Co., BBVA Securities, J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons LLC and Stifel Nicolaus are acting as co-managers. The company intends to use the net proceeds, expected to be approximately $381.9 million, to reduce borrowings outstanding on its revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes, including the repayment or repurchase of outstanding indebtedness. As of midday on April 17, Weingarten was trading at $15.72 per share, up $0.04 on the day.